Why Across Wants to Turn its ACX Token into Equity
In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Hart Lambur, co-founder of Across Protocol and UMA, in two segments: breaking news about Across's token-to-equity proposal and a conversation from ETH Denver. Hart first unveils the Bridge Across proposal, a first-of-its-kind "token buyout" where, if approved, ACX holders can exchange tokens for equity in a new C Corp at 1:1 ratio or redeem for USDC. He explains why the DAO structure has become a bottleneck as institutional demand grows, why long tail tokens are undervalued, how enterprise partners need enforceable contracts DAOs can't provide, and addresses concerns around US security law restrictions before the two-week community discussion period. The ETH Denver segment covers why competition from Stripe's Tempo and Circle's Arc will push Ethereum into "war mode" and drive innovation, the evolution of the Open Intents framework and two-second bridging experiences, how the L2 thesis didn't stick while EVM architecture remains strong, whether stablecoins will be consumer-facing or backend infrastructure for fintechs, the power law distribution of stablecoins as a key competition metric, and why AI agent-to-agent payments are a natural fit for crypto rails.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Intro (01:54) The Bridge Across proposal for token-to-equity exchange or USDC buyout options (02:40) Why DAOs can't sign enterprise contracts and long tail tokens are undervalued (08:52) Across Protocol maintaining decentralized governance and non-custodial protections (10:46) What happens next: two-week discussion period before snapshot vote (14:13) Intro to ETH Denver conversation (15:27) Energy in bear markets: focus on building over hype and token prices (16:05) Ethereum going into "war mode" with competition from Tempo and Arc (17:22) How blockchain fragmentation benefits Across while challenging user experience (18:23) Open Intents framework's evolution since launch (20:18) L2 thesis not sticking as expected, but EVM architecture remains strong (24:33) Future of blockchain interoperability and solving fragmentation for users (29:12) Stablecoins as consumer products versus backend fintech infrastructure (34:48) How Robinhood and Stripe are approaching stablecoin adoption differently (38:23) Power law distribution of stablecoins as key metric for competition (42:28) AI agents and agent-to-agent payments as natural crypto use case (43:32) Final advice: stay the course through bear markets
ESSENTIALS You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review — it really helps. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 Follow us on X Jacquelyn: https://twitter.com/jacqmelinek Talking Tokens: https://twitter.com/_TalkingTokens Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_talkingtokens/ Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in discussed content.
Why Across Wants to Turn its ACX Token into Equity
Subscribe & Listen
More from Talking Tokens
Alex Cutler | How Five Guys in Discord Built a Top Exchange
In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Alex Cutler, CEO of Dromos Labs and a core contributor to Aerodrome, now Aero, to discuss why the decentralized exchange is expanding beyond Base blockchain and positioning itself as exchange infrastructure for the broader onchain economy. Alex breaks down Aero's multichain expansion, the rise of tokenized stocks, and why he believes onchain exchanges can increasingly compete with traditional venues like Nasdaq and the NYSE. They also discuss the relationship between centralized and decentralized exchanges, making DeFi infrastructure invisible to users, token value capture, 24/7 markets, FX and the next generation of Aero. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:55 Aerodrome Becomes Aero 01:51 Why Aero Is Going Multichain 03:27 Is Base Still the Leading L2? 04:56 Robinhood's Onchain Growth 07:30 Centralized vs. Decentralized Exchanges 09:22 Will Consumers Actually Use DEXs? 10:20 Bringing Stocks Onchain 12:00 Why Onchain Markets Can Compete With Nasdaq 13:55 Turning Stock Exchanges Into Code 15:09 $1.5B in Tokenized Stock Volume 16:01 How Fast Can Tokenized Markets Grow? 17:01 Taking Market Share From Traditional Exchanges 17:40 Bringing Exotic Assets Onchain 18:22 Why Markets Want to Be 24/7 19:24 Do Crypto Tokens Create Real Value? 21:59 Why Aerodrome Redistributes 100% of Value 24:02 What's Wrong With Traditional Token Models? 25:04 Competing With Wall Street 26:16 What Alex Would Do Differently 27:20 What's New in Aero 28:46 How Predictive Allocation Works 30:21 Building Markets From First Principles 31:23 Where Aero Could Be in One Year 🔔 New episodes every week https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 🌐 Follow Jacquelyn Melinek https://x.com/jacqmelinek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynmelinek ➡️ Follow Alex Cutlerhttps://x.com/wagmiAlexander #Aero #Aerodrome #TokenizedStocks #DeFi #OnchainFinance
How Chainlink Is Preparing for Trillions in Onchain Finance
In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Liam Karwan, Head of RWAs at Chainlink Labs, to discuss how tokenization is changing global capital markets, what financial institutions need to move assets onchain, and why the next phase of adoption will require more than just blockchain technology. Liam explains how Chainlink connects banks, asset managers, blockchains and DeFi protocols through data infrastructure, cross-chain interoperability and transaction orchestration. They explore why institutions are shifting from blockchain experimentation toward measurable business outcomes, what's holding back institutional-scale liquidity, and how tokenized equities, stablecoins and fintech platforms could accelerate adoption. They also discuss the role of Robinhood, Coinbase and other financial platforms in bringing mainstream users onchain, the difference between wrapped and natively issued tokenized equities, and what it would take for blockchain to support financial markets at a much larger scale. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction 01:16 What Is Tokenization? 01:59 How Tokenization Has Changed in 12 Months 02:24 Chainlink's Role in Onchain Finance 03:13 What Financial Institutions Want From Chainlink 03:33 Why Institutional Conversations Have Changed 04:29 Are Tokenization Projects Succeeding? 04:54 Simple vs. Complex Institutional Use Cases 05:47 The Next Phase of Institutional Adoption 06:08 Private Blockchains, Compliance and Interoperability 07:25 Why Technology Isn't the Biggest Bottleneck 07:47 Making the Business Case for Blockchain 08:20 How Quickly Will Tokenization Scale? 08:37 The $100 Trillion Capital Markets Opportunity 09:05 Why Chainlink Wants to Connect Financial Networks 09:48 Which Institutions Are Adopting RWAs? 10:40 Why Hedge Funds Are Moving More Slowly 11:25 Is Onchain Finance Ready for Wall Street? 12:22 Stablecoins, Liquidity and Yield Opportunities 12:44 Why Fintechs Could Drive Mainstream Adoption 13:26 Will Consumers Know They're Using Blockchain? 14:46 Why Crypto Focused on Infrastructure First 15:45 How Onchain Finance Improves Financial Products 16:31 Institutional Adoption in South Korea 17:26 Why Tokenized Equities Matter 18:14 Are Tokenized Stocks Overhyped? 18:52 Wrapped vs. Native Tokenized Equities 19:37 How the Tokenization Industry Has Evolved 20:44 Why Asset Managers Are Focusing on Distribution 21:10 Chainlink's Long-Term Vision 21:35 What Will Drive the Next Wave of RWA Adoption? 21:54 Fintechs, Stablecoins and New Onchain Demand 🔔 New episodes every week https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 🌐 Follow Jacquelyn Melinek https://x.com/jacqmelinek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynmelinek ➡️ Follow Liam Karwan https://x.com/KarwanLiam05 #Chainlink #Tokenization #RWA #OnchainFinance #TokenizedStocks
Why R3 Chose Solana for the Next Chapter of Corda
In today's Solana Sessions episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Todd McDonald, co-founder of R3, to discuss how institutional blockchain has evolved over the past decade and why R3 is moving from private blockchain networks toward open markets, including building the next version of Corda as a protocol on Solana. Todd explains why he believes all markets will eventually move onchain, what banks actually want from blockchain today, why R3 concluded that open networks win, and how tokenization can connect traditional assets with capital already living onchain. They also discuss why R3 chose Solana, what institutions care about when selecting blockchain infrastructure, and why fixed income and alternative assets could be among the next major markets for tokenization. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:32 How Institutional Blockchain Has Changed 02:55 Why All Markets Will Move Onchain 04:08 Why Todd McDonald Started R3 06:25 Buying Bitcoin in the Early Days 07:37 How R3 Got Major Banks Onboard 09:56 What Crypto Gets Wrong About Banks 12:10 How Banks Are Using Blockchain Today 13:38 Why R3 Changed Its Strategy 14:00 Moving From Private to Open Networks 14:24 Why R3 Chose Solana 16:29 Bringing Corda to Solana 16:52 What Banks Care About in a Blockchain 18:18 What R3 Got Wrong 19:00 Lessons From R3's Early Network Strategy 20:05 Why Open Networks Win 22:05 What's Next for Banks Onchain 23:07 The Opportunity Beyond Tokenized Dollars 24:05 The Trillions in Tokenization 26:17 What Tokenization Actually Means 27:26 Bring the Assets to the Money 27:57 The State of Tokenization 28:57 What Has Changed in Five Years 30:12 What Banks Want From Tokenization 31:04 What's Next for Tokenization 31:59 Todd's Advice for Builders Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com This episode is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign between Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast, diving into founders' journeys and startups building on Solana. Check out the accompanying newsletter on www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/solana This episode is sponsored by Binance, the world’s number-one crypto exchange, trusted by over 300 million people. Discover more at: https://binance.onelink.me/y874/talkingtokens . NOTE: Binance is not available in certain countries, including the U.S.; check its Terms for more information: https://www.binance.com/en/terms 🔔 New episodes every week https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141 🌐 Follow Jacquelyn Melinek https://x.com/jacqmelinek?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynmelinek ➡️ Follow Todd McDonald https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddvmcdonald/?isSelfProfile=false #R3 #Solana #Tokenization #Corda #OnchainFinance